survive.

Essential Questions
What does it take to survive? What are the common qualities of all survivors?

Overview
Sometimes it is just not possible to survive on your own. Survival requires knowledge and experience, along with strength and luck. In groups, you will craft a survival scenario, using inspiration from literature, research, and stories from actual survivors. You will then help others through your survival scenarios during exhibition with your new knowledge.

Disciplines
Art, Humanities, Math, Science

What Will You Do?

You will select a novel about survival that interests you. There are many types of survival in each novel, so in your Book Groups, you will record what situations you see being survived by the characters. As a class, we will look at all the survival scenarios we see in our four novels. Across both classes, we will form four groups to research four kinds of survival. You will then balance fictional accounts of survival with actual ones by meeting and speaking with real life survivors. Researching the science and statistics of your particular survival scenario will round out your expertise. Finally youll be ready to share your knowledge with others. Together we will build an experiential exhibition where guests will get an opportunity to learn from your work while having the chance to experience their own survival challenge.

What will you build?

Your builds will be specific to your exhibition experience. But will minimally include: Survival Guide - A portfolio of your experiences with the history, science, art and interviews of survival. Abstract Art - An abstract piece invoking the feelings of your survival scenario. Exhibition Experience - You will design an exhibition experience, taking guests on a survival adventure. May include a survival kit or scenes that give guests the tools they need to survive.

Exhibition
At our exhibition, our guests will from one of four four survival scenarios. Their exhibition will take them on a journey that will leave them with a better understanding of what it would take to survive that scenario. Each scenario will be problem driven, that is each participant will be given a problem to solve that will require consultation with student experts or their work in order to solve. Each scenario will have 4 such problems: one that relates to the science of surviving it, another to the history, another to gaining insight from the experience of living survivors, and one related to empathizing with the state of mind of the survivor. Additionally the survival guide will be on display.

Grouping
You will have Book Groups as well as Survival Groups. Your Book Groups are between 2 and 6 people and meet to discuss the novel you have chosen. Your Survival Groups will be cross-class groups based on what kind of survival you want to research. There will be four 14 people teams for the four different types of survival. The Survival Groups will also be broken down into four sections for the four different rooms on exhibition: math/science, literature, history, and speaking with a survivor. So 3-4 people in each Survival Group will be assigned a room and expertise for exhibition.

Calendar
Week 1: Jan 28th - Feb 1st Start Literature Circles and writing reading response journals called Survival Guides to their novels (find evidence of survival and record the quote and their thoughts on how that person survived that situation). Think about what it means to survive - all the different definitions and think of stories of survival the kids already find important (in their lives, in history, in literature). Week 2: Feb 4th - 8th Full launch of project: Begin looking at history and science as well as literature. Look at Native American/Pilgrim history to give context for the research they will do in their groups tailored to their topic. Direct instruction and research give them context of the science needed to understand their topic. Field Trip the 6th (hopefully, half day). Brainstorm ideas for their survival scenario and contact experts/survivors for interviews. Week 3: Feb 11th - 15th Continue Lit Circles and begin to compile a polished response journal with most important evidence of survival from all the independent reading journals. Begin creating research questions the students want to answer about Native American/Pilgrim history that relates to their survival topic (KWL). Create research questions for the science behind their topics (KWL). Finalize ideas for their survival scenario. Complete an interview with an expert/survivor.

Week 4: Feb 18th - 22nd Continue Lit Circles and polishing response journal with evidence of survival. Independent research on their proposed research questions for the historical and scientific portions. Transcribe interviews and think about what parts are most helpful, what other research it leads them to. Week 5: Feb 25th - Mar 1st Create bibliography of the resources they found helpful and summary of each so they can return to them for their brief essays. Begin thinking about how to create the experience of surviving this scenario on the exhibition. What items will they need in their survival kits? Finish novels and novel discussions. Week 6: March 4th - 8th Write brief essays on each topic (perhaps each kid picks a topic or in pairs) to be placed in a Survival Guide for their survival scenario. In other words, write brief essays about history, science/math, and literature that would help someone survive their scenario. Include a transcript of their interview or a summary with quotes. Compile the objects needed for survival kits. Brainstorm set-up of their exhibition experience. Week 7: March 11th - 15th Edit and add to the essays on each topic. Practice making those essays into guidance they can give to the audience in person at exhibition. Finalize survival kits. Week 8: 8th - 21st (4 days) Compile manuscripts for survival guides, practice their parts for exhibition, begin transforming the room.